Mobile Data Network Appliance for Wireless TCP Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile communication networks face performance degradation due to high loss rates, long Round Trip Delays, mobility, and asymmetric bandwidth, leading to misinterpretation of errors as congestion by TCP protocols, resulting in reduced throughput and poor user experience.
Innovation Solution
A mobile data network appliance intercepts TCP communications, buffers data, and sends acknowledgments, allowing for asynchronous data delivery and local content caching to reduce latency and improve throughput by emulating a TCP connection and utilizing local content storage when available.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If TCP protocol is used over wireless networks, then reliable data transmission is achieved, but throughput is degraded due to misinterpretation of errors as congestion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile data network appliance as an intermediary device positioned between the mobile data client and the remote server. This appliance intercepts TCP communications, buffers data, and manages acknowledgments, thereby decoupling the TCP protocol operations from the unreliable wireless link. The intermediary handles error recovery and congestion control locally, preventing wireless errors from being misinterpreted as network congestion by the TCP protocol, thus maintaining both reliability and throughput.
2Reliability
If retransmissions are performed to achieve error-free communications, then reliability is improved, but delays increase causing TCP timeouts and reduced throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile data network appliance performs preliminary actions by buffering incoming TCP data segments before they are transmitted over the wireless link. This buffering allows the appliance to prepare and manage retransmissions locally without waiting for TCP timeout events. When packet loss occurs, the appliance can quickly retransmit from its buffer, significantly reducing the time loss compared to standard TCP retransmission mechanisms that wait for timeouts.
3Quantity of substance
If bandwidth is limited and buffers overflow, then packet loss occurs, but congestion control mechanisms reduce throughput further
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile data network appliance acts as an intermediary buffer management system that sits between the limited wireless bandwidth and the application data flow. It intercepts TCP communications, manages local buffering, and controls the timing and rate of data transmission over the wireless link. This prevents buffer overflow at the application level by smoothing out traffic peaks, and prevents unnecessary throughput reduction by accurately distinguishing between genuine congestion and wireless link errors.
4Reliability
If ARQ mechanism is implemented in MAC layer, then packet reception reliability is improved, but traffic delay increases causing TCP timeouts
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile data network appliance serves as an intermediary that absorbs and manages the delays introduced by the ARQ mechanism in the MAC layer. By buffering data at the TCP layer, the appliance can wait for ARQ retransmissions without triggering TCP timeouts. This decoupling allows the MAC layer ARQ mechanism to operate at its full reliability potential while the appliance manages the timing aspects to prevent TCP protocol disruptions.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods, circuits, apparatus, systems and functionally associated computer executable code for providing connectivity between a mobile communication device communicatively coupled to an access point of a mobile communication network and a remote server. According to some embodiments, there may be provided a data buffer at or in communicative proximity with the access point and which responds to receipt of data packets from the remote server with a packet receipt acknowledgement emulating a packet receipt acknowledgment of the mobile communication device.